


Stranded

by hope_to_last



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Planet, Crash Landing, Gen, Science Fiction, lost in the snowfall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 06:50:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17017812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hope_to_last/pseuds/hope_to_last
Summary: A rough awakening after a rough landing. Is she really alone?





	Stranded

There’s frost all over her helmet, covering her field of vision in a white sheen. She wipes it away with her heavily gloved hand, uncovering the cracks in the visor that the ice had sealed. The pain in her right side flares like fireworks with every movement and she hastily pats her side down, to make sure nothing stabbed her.  All clear, thank goodness.

The landing had been rougher than expected. The captain told her the shuttle was designed to resist for centuries under duress, but the recent experience makes her wonder what kind of tests they worked on those things. Although flying through a tempest spanning half the planet, to land on a planet with unknown meteorological ground conditions, probably isn’t one of the conducted stress tests. Well, she can report the results now: It sucks, do not repeat.

It all went fine –or as fine as one could expect– until they were hit by lightning. Repeatedly. Then the power went off and it was impossible to restart it, despite their best efforts. After that she remembers a horrifying ripping sound, the bite of something hitting her left side, and the final crash. However, she’s unexpectedly alive. And if she is, Mila could be too.

Walking makes her hurt all over, but that’s good. If she were numb she could be going into shock. And let’s not forget hypothermia, the suits were supposed to insulate them from the elements, but not indefinitely. The freezing wind is much worse when she jumps off of the shuttle. Or more accurately, half of the shuttle. She hopes Mila is on the other half, and wasn’t flung out like a china doll when it broke. That was not something she wanted to think about. The ground is ice, slippery and treacherous, with flecks of ice and snow trapped in the wind, swirling like made around her.

This alien world looks so monotonous. All she can see is a ever-expanding plain of ice, nothing else. Everything is either white or grey, like the stormy sky. After a while she can’t even see the shuttle anymore, and the doubts assail her. Go forward or back? The safety of the known or searching for Mila in this white wasteland? This concern is temporarily thrown out of the windows when she notices a most curious thing: a dark shadow on the ground next to her. She raises her eyes up to the sky. It’s as full of dark clouds as always, like a mass of gloom and thunder looming above her. But nothing that could cast a shadow of this shape. God it almost looks as if it was moving, floating up to her…

Two revelations hit her like a brick dropped on her head: one, this icy plain is a frozen mass of water, probably an ocean. Two, this silhouette is a marine creature she’s seeing through the ice.  And it’s huge. Moreover, it’s following her.

She starts waling faster and the silhouette keeps up with her, following like a cape of darkness beneath her feet. She feels the push against the solid surface, the ice vibrating and trembling with the force of its assault. It doesn’t crack, though, and she thanks her lucky stars for that. Thick and sturdy ice, good. The creature rams against the ice again, and this time she nearly falls on her arse when they ground shakes. Perhaps the ice isn’t as thick as she though. Or worse, the creature is bigger –or hungrier– than she imagined. She gets up again and sees that another huge shadow is coming towards her. Oh no, she’s no one’s snack! She runs and slips on the treacherous ice, landing on her face now, the helmet’s visor cracking further with the impact. Another hit shakes the ground, followed by an ominous crack. She starts to hyperventilate and tries to scramble up, but her panic makes her uncoordinated and getting up on ice is difficult enough in normal conditions. She lets out a sob and thinks that’s it, she’s going to die here, either eaten by alien sea creatures or frozen or starved. Why keep fighting if the end is unavoidable?

However, instead of giving up, she hears her something that makes her fight harder to get up and run. Her suit’s short radio transmitter sputter some static and then  _“This is Mila, do you copy? C’mon Ari, answer me, don’t be dead.”_

Mila is alive! And nearby, if she can hear her message. She finally gets up and starts walking faster, as fast as she can to get away from the huge sea creatures following her.

_“I’m hoping you can hear this, it’s the sixth time I repeat the same fucking message. I’m still on the shuttle, one of the compartments was intact and it’s better than freezing my arse outside. I could use your help to repair the basic systems and contact the captain before it’s too late. So move your arse over here as soon as you hear this! Guess I’ll repeat again in twenty minutes…”_

Her goal is clear now. Further ahead Mila is waiting for her, she just has to keep going. She dares to look behind to see if she’s still being followed, but to her surprise there’s no sign of the creatures anywhere. Did she…? Surely not, the tremors of them ramming against the ice made her fall down!

(Just like when she slipped, isn’t it?)

(But she’s not crazy!)

In the end it doesn’t matter. She keeps walking, dreading their return but glad for the respite. She has to find Mila, dallying will not help.


End file.
